On Monday, Oct. 22, ESPN premiered Pardon The Interruption, a live and provocative show devoted exclusively to sports opinions and headline issues, each weekday at 5:30 p.m. ET leading into SportsCenter. The 30-minute program will originate from Washington, D.C. and will feature Washington Post columnists Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon. They will address a variety of issues each program, which will include in-studio and out-of-studio contributors. The program will re-air each weekday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser duke it out on PTI each weekday.

Kornheiser and Wilbon, who have been debating each other in the sports and style pages of the Washington Post for more than two decades, will face-off nightly on the day’s hot topics. Timely interviews with newsmakers will frame the debates. Viewers will also have an opportunity to ask questions and voice opinions. Veteran ESPN news executive Jim Cohen will serve as the show’s executive producer.

"Pardon the Interruption will be many things, but mostly unpredictable," said Mark Shapiro, ESPN senior vice president and general manager, programming. "It will be journalistic, but proudly irreverent. Its mood and direction will vary from day to day. However, it will always be fast-paced, topical, diverse in subject matter and full of opinion."

Kornheiser and Wilbon, frequent guests on ESPN’s The Sports Reporters, will remain with The Post and continue writing columns for the sports pages. Kornheiser will also continue as host of the Tony Kornheiser Show on ESPN Radio.

The Hosts
Tony Kornheiser -- sportswriter, radio host, syndicated columnist, Washington Post humorist and author -- began his career at Newsday in New York followed by a stint at the New York Times. He has been with the Washington Post since 1979, as a sports columnist there since 1984, and in 1990, began writing a regular column in the Washington Post’s Sunday Style section. He joined ESPN Radio in November 1997 as host of the Tony Kornheiser Show, which premiered Jan. 5, 1998.

Michael Wilbon became a fulltime columnist for The Washington Post in 1990 and has developed a reputation for offering commentary on wide-ranging issues of the day as they relate to sports. He came to the Post in 1980, and has covered Howard University, Georgetown University, the University of Maryland, the Baltimore Orioles, national college sports and the NFL before being named a columnist in 1990.